Mini-documentary: “Shine a light – understanding ADHD”

On the last day of the international ADHD Awareness Month, we are releasing a mini-documentary about ADHD. The hope is that this video will help young people and adults diagnosed with ADHD, or who suspect they have ADHD, as well as their family and friends, to understand the condition better.

“I feel like a universe, stuffed within a shoebox” – this is how Bryn Travers describes what it’s like to have Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In this short film we have asked people with ADHD and their relatives about living with ADHD: what are the challenges and what are the things they like about ADHD? We have also asked clinicians and researchers working with ADHD to explain more about the origins of the disorder, what they have learnt from their experience working with patients, but also what are the main questions that research is trying to answer about ADHD.

Many children, adolescents and adults suffer from ADHD. ADHD is a complex disorder that affects people differently. Generally people experience problems in daily life, especially with respect to controlling attention, impulses and emotions. At the same time, people with ADHD enjoy their creativity and positive energy. Medication is effective for many people with ADHD, but not for all. That is why many people are interested in other types of (additional) treatment, such as meditation or diets. These types of treatment should therefore be better investigated. Knowing more about ADHD and spreading awareness will help people to understand what causes their behaviour. This will reduce stigma and (self)blame.

The video features four of the most well-known researchers in the field of ADHD: dr. Eric Taylor is emeritus professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at King’s College London, dr. Philip Asherson is professor of Molecular Psychiatry at King’s College London, dr. Barbara Franke is professor of Molecular Psychiatry at Radboud university medical center Nijmegen (The Netherlands), and dr. Corina Greven is psychologist and behavioural geneticist at Radboud university medical center Nijmegen. Next to these scientists and psychiatrists, we see three people with ADHD (Bryn Travers, Evie Travers and Aziz), Andrea Bilbow, president of patient organisation ‘ADHD Europe’ and mother of two children with ADHD, and dr. Kai Syng Tan, researcher and artist at King’s College London, who also has an ADHD diagnosis.

This film was created through the MiND research consortium, in collaboration with the consortia Aggressotype, CoCA and Eat2beNICE. These consortia are all funded by the European Commission through the FP-7 and horizon2020 programs. Young researchers dr. Nicoletta Adamo and Laura Ghirardi are the brains behind this film, with the help of the MiND training program and 4QuarterFilms.

Do you want to help us spreading awareness about ADHD? Then share this video with everyone you know! The video also contains subtitles in English, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Hungarian (and more languages may follow).